How can VET align with Industry to close skills gaps?
Barcelona is testing a bold answer: VET centres have been re-organised vertically by the city’s main economic sectors, with each centre mapping its key companies and their wider ecosystem as strategic partners. The result is a living system that connects VET and companies, tackling skills gaps together while keeping pace with the local economy’s evolution.
On 29 September 2025, the EfVET Work-Based Learning Working Group held its first 2025 webinar, “VET and Industry: An original approach to integration – The Barcelona Model.”
Tatiana Soler Pastor presented how the Education Consortium of Barcelona builds long-term alliances between VET and companies.
Jose Antonio Vasquez showed how the Barcelona Institute of Logistics benefits this Model: company-led upskilling opportunies for teachers, structured encounters between learners and employers, and a stronger WBL talent pipeline.
With 20+ participants, this webinar explored practical takeaways to replicate across Europe:
• Build communities of VET teachers to co-design WBL experiences.
• Offer staff training (e.g., marketing & communication) to improve company collaboration.
• Strengthen pre-orientation and guidance for learners, including emotional support.
• Tap funding opportunities for WBL projects and forge shared VET–industry strategies.
WBL will be a crucial dimension of the next #VETStrategy, to achieve the goals of the #Union of #Skills. EfVET, with its WBL WG and its program of webinars, aims at being a frontliner in identifying proposals and practices for a high-quality policy-making.
If you are interested to contribute, contact us (contact@efvet.org) and stay tuned!